There is a growing desire to be able to monitor, in real time, predefined geographic areas for security purposes. Such areas may include battlefield areas where military operations are underway or anticipated, border areas separating two countries, or stretches of highways or roads. Areas where large numbers of individuals might be expected often are also in need of security monitoring. Such areas may involve, without limitation, stadiums, public parks, tourist attractions, theme parks or areas where large groups of individuals might be expected to congregate, such as at a public rally. In many applications involving security monitoring, it is important to be able to quickly detect objects-of-interest (OIs) such as unauthorized persons, vehicles or even suspicious appearing objects within the area being monitored. However, present day monitoring and surveillance systems suffer from numerous limitations that can negatively impact their effectiveness in providing real-time monitoring of large geographic areas or areas densely populated with potential OIs.
Present day monitoring and surveillance systems often employ cameras to image a predetermined geographic area. A camera may provide a limited but movable field of view to enable surveillance of a larger area. But to track moving objects within the geographic area often requires a human operator to control the camera's field of view to track a mobile OI. The operator must therefore multitask between continuously moving the cameras to track the OI, and relaying information to officers in the field who may be trying to locate or even confront the OI.
Therefore, it may be desirable to have a system and method that takes into account at least some of the issues discussed above, as well as possibly other issues.